Battle Across the Realms: Triumph, Treachery & the 8-points | July 31st- Aug 1st 2021, Ravenna OH, USA

A new narrative 2-day event will take place in Ravenna, Ohio US, on July 31st – August 1st 2021 at Battlegrounds Game Center!

Players’ armies will be clashing in many locations across the Mortal Realms, with a grand prize to attempt a conquest of the Varanspire itself! But most importantly, each battle will be a multiplayer battle of up to four players! Alliances and betrayals will happen in every game!

We chatted with Neil LaRocca @NeilLarocca, the NEO behind the event, on what players can expect and what interesting Narrative Play tricks he will be using.

Q: Please briefly summarize Battle Across the Realms (BARs) for us, and what players will be able to experience.
A: Players will get to experience Triumph and Treachery multiplayer free-for-all battles. The event is 3 games of Triumph and Treachery (2 games Saturday and 1 game Sunday) as well as a final clash of champions where players’ Narrative Heroes will fight it out in gladiatorial style combat until a champion is crowned. 

Q: What Narrative innovations and rules will you be deploying in this event? We have heard there will be Treachery cards and all sorts of resources to collect across the battlefield. Including Realm travel.
A: Each player will have a hand of Treachery Cards that can be used to negatively impact your opponents in big ways. A player’s hand starts at 5 and then cards are lost as they are played. 

Seven different Triumph Objectives will be set up across the board and players will fight for control of these objectives to gain points that can be spent to boost your army or your Narrative Hero to greater power. The games are centered around a Narrative Hero and their armies march throughout the realms. Each player submits a written narrative about their Narrative Hero and their army. During the event players may jump from realm to realm advancing their story with each game.

Q: These Narrative Heroes are going to be a big component of the event. The Hero can gain new abilities, artifacts and spells, as well as suffer Injuries from battle to battle. Tell us more about it.
A: Player’s Narrative Heroes level up between games, but they can also level up by doing various Heroic things during the battle.

Each Hero has slots for equipment like an RPG. These slots are broken down into a single Weapon, Armor, or Talisman that Narrative Heroes can equip by purchasing them with Artifact Triumph points gained by holding Artifact objectives in the game. Wizards and priests also have access to boons to casting that are earned in the same manner with Arcane Secret objectives. 

The most important objective in each Realm will be the Forbidden power located in Storm Vaults. When the objective is controlled, a hero can gain an artifact of immense power.  In the unfortunate event that your Narrative Hero is killed in a game, they will take injuries that will reduce their power. These injuries are able to be healed by means of Triumph points between games.  

Q: Your Rend4 tournaments already had a reputation for amazing narrative tables, and in this event the tables are blossoming with all their own special rules, and some amount of continuity for future events. What can players expect to see?
A: With 4 players on the board with 1500 points in their army, in addition to their free Narrative Hero, we have to be careful with the amount and size of Terrain placed across the board. The terrain will take a bit of a back seat compared to some of the more elaborate events we have had in the past.
That being said, we will still be taking care to make sure each realm is themed to a point that if you are in Shyish, you would know it just by looking at the table. For example, Ghur will have 3 “Beasts” that randomly roam the table wreaking havoc causing wounds that cannot be saved by any means!

Q: The event already counts with the presence of some well-known NEOs and narrative players in your local scene (they know who they are! 😉 ), and all of your players wrote up their own Narrative Hero backstory for this event.
Where do you see Narrative Play going, in the future, for the Ohio AoS scene?
A: One thing that I look forward to with this event is that the story does not come to a close at the end of the event. In fact, heros will likely not have made it anywhere close to max level. This is done specifically so that future BARs events can continue the stories of our heroes picking up right where they left off! 

The story of their last event will be included in our updated supplement for the next event, and our heroes journey’s will be chronicled for our players to look back on, from event to event. 

Our event right now is at 32 players. My hope would be to double that amount by the next event if the players enjoy this system and would like to see more in the future. 

Q: What would you like to say to players out there to motivate them to come to Battle Across the Realms, or join you in future Narrative Events?
A: BARs is as much a supplement to gaming as it is a Narrative event. To come to the event gives you access to a system to take back to your gaming communities to continue the fun. 

Aside from that, you will get to play on tables that have 4 players a piece giving you ample opportunity to meet new people across the community while playing your games. Join us, and see what your army and your Hero can achieve, and what victories and defeats will become part of BARs history!

Click here to join the Rend4 Facebook Group! 
You can download the Battle Across the Realms rules pack there as well.

Thank you Neil, for putting this event together! And your dedicated playtesters & gaming community.

If you are in the area, reach out to them, they might still have places available!
Remember: there are always places opening up for those in the wait-list!